Independent Expenditures Aren’t All Glamour: Canvassers Work Long Hours for Low Pay

With movies like Speechless and TV shows like The West Wing out there, you might conclude that campaign work is glamorous and glossy. Reality can be a lot different. FEC records show that Cathy Bauman has been compensated just $579 for a month’s work as a canvasser on behalf of the campaign of Senator Michael Bennet. Ms. Bauman’s earning less than $7000 a year in income for some of the hardest emotional work there is out there: summoning up the pluck to talk to often hostile people for hours at a time about a campaign and candidate she believes in. And yet she’s doing it. If Michael Bennet wins his Senate campaign, he’ll be up on stage smiling, enjoying the limelight and the victory and all the benefits that come with that. But canvassers like Cathy Bauman will deserve a whole lot of the credit.